Building structures have numerous deflections, due to the various sizes, materials of construction, and different loadings that a building structure can experience. In particular, multistory structures can experience the different loadings from floor to floor, which results in relatively different deflections between the different floor structures. As there is usually a need for vertical wall structures that are typically non load bearing between the floors, the wall structures must of necessity be structurally attached to the floor and ceiling of a particular level within the building structure. As the aforementioned wall structure is attached to the floor and ceiling which have correspondingly different deflections, these different deflections can transmit into the wall structure causing a wall structure to deflect, crack, or buckle. Thus, there is a need for a way of securing the wall structure to the floor and ceiling, however, requiring at least some degree of flexibility in the securing of the wall structure to allow for the building structure to deflect at relatively different rates from the floor to the ceiling. As is well known in the art, building structural deflection rarely occurs in a singular axis or direction, as most building structures are constructed of lateral beams that are supported by a pair of a freely pivoting attachments which allows the beam to bend from its loading without transmitting the beam bending moment into the other parts of the building structure, meaning that the beam bends in a parabolic profile, which of necessity causes varying degrees of structural deflection at varying points along the beam length. This also results in beam deflections not only vertically but laterally also. Thus, it is very important that a structural brace be designed to accommodate deflection in more than one axis while still providing some measure of support between the two building components.
Accommodating building structural deflections in the support of vertical walls has long been recognized in the prior art, however, the prior art has focused almost exclusively upon vertical only deflections between building structure components that act to support a vertical wall, while providing some degree of lateral or horizontal stability in conjunction with vertical flexibility. One example would be U.S. Pat. No. 5,685,121 to De Francesco et al. that discloses a metal wall stud extension ceiling connector that slides to compensate for ceiling deflection in the event of earthquakes, or other deflections. The extension is positioned vertically and the sliding feature of the metal wall said is designed to accommodate only vertical ceiling deflection. In this same vein, U.S. Pat. No. 6,119,430 to Nicholls also discloses a slidably engaged metal stud wherein the slidable portion is more central to the stud length, which allows a higher degree of vertical deflection to occur in the stud. A further example is in U.S. Pat. No. 5,906,080 to di-Girolamo et al. that discloses a shouldered sliding bracket that typically attaches to the end of a wall stud, wherein the slidable bracket is attached to a ceiling structure, again only designed to accommodate purely vertical deflection of the ceiling structure. A further prior art example is in U.S. Pat. No. 5,313,752 to Hatzinikolas the discloses a wall framing system wherein slidably engaged attachments are affixed to the end of vertical wall studs to allow a limited degree of vertical flexure in the wall, thus accommodating vertical only structural wall flexing between the floor and ceiling of a building structure. Another example is in U.S. Pat. No. 5,040,345 to Gilmour that discloses an end mounted stud clip for allowing vertical floating movement between a floor and a roof structure utilizing a slidable engagement between a C shaped or channel type metal stud in which the stud clip is slidably engaged into. A final example is in U.S. Pat. No. 5,237,786 to Kochansky that discloses an interior wall system that utilizes in one embodiment a plate cylinder within a cylinder having a guide rod that is spring loaded to allow again, only vertical deflection between the floor and ceiling.
What is needed is a structural brace apparatus that can accommodate not only vertical deflections between building components but in addition horizontal or lateral deflections between building components, that result in a combined axes composite deflection between the building components that acts at an angle intermediate to the building component X axis deflection and the building component Y axis deflection. This is required because building structural component deflections are rarely in a singular axis, as the most typical deflection being a beam that deflects in a somewhat parabolic shape resulting in vertical and horizontal deflections, i.e. X axis and Y axis deflections. Thus, a structural brace apparatus is required to accommodate both X axis and Y axis deflections from a building component in an effort to help reduce transmission of these multiple access deflections into another building component to prevent damage to that component, therefore allowing of freedom of movement between the two building components to reduce stress and fracture occurring between the components that are connected by a structural brace apparatus, while the same time providing a measure of some structural support between the building components. Additional desirable features would be the ability of the structural brace apparatus to accommodate a large degree of the flex and at the same time having a retention mechanism to keep the structural brace apparatus from disengaging where it has a slidable engagement.